The operator has signed “an exclusive 5G alliance” for Nordics and Baltics with Nokia – except Ericsson is supplying 5G infra in Sweden and Estonia, as well as Norway.
Telia and Nokia have signed a five-year deal that includes the modernisation of legacy networks that will cover 7,500 sites.
Nokia will also provide the the 5G standalone (SA) core in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden in the Nordic and Baltic regions.
The vendor will supply its AirScale portfolio including 5G RAN, AirScale base stations and Nokia AirScale radio access products.
The deal will modernise existing radio networks, as well as the rollout of 5G in Finland where Nokia is the incumbent radio provider.
Telia’s 5G SA core network will run on Nokia’s 5G core and Cloud Packet Core (CPC) portfolios, and expand the current core network from Nokia.
At the core
The new core will build on the control/user plane separation (CUPS) core network architecture, with the CPC appliance solution used in the 5G SA user plane, making it scalable.
It will also allow Telia to build a unified core network offering quad-access (that is, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G) services.
Telia opened the first pre-commercial 5G networks in Helsinki, Vantaa and Oulu in Finland in September 2018 with Nokia.
The commercial network was opened at the beginning of 2019, and the roll-out has reached 42 Finnish cities in covering more than 25% of the population.
Ericsson in action
Telia has signed a five-year contract with Ericsson to deploy 5G infrastructure deployed across Sweden and Estonia by 2025.
They are already deploying 5G across Norway, where Ericsson is Telia’s exclusive technology partner.
The new deal will modernise the 4G networks across Sweden and Estonia to bring 5G across a network of 10,000 cellular sites in an area of more than 500,000sq km.
The 5G deployment will also reach industry, enabling automation in manufacturing and IoT for greater efficiency and sustainability.
The two said the project will also provide a welcome stimulus to the economies in the Covid era.
Close collaboration
Ericsson and Telia have worked closely on 5G development in the region, partnering as far back as 2016 on tests and trials.
The companies have also joined forces with other industry and academic leaders to develop 5G use cases such as self-driving trucks, a driverless ferry trial in Norway and trialling a 5G-enabled driverless electric minibus in Stockholm.
This year, the partners launched commercial 5G in Norway and Sweden.